Of Fire and War
by Weezila
Summary: I am the Ice Queen, get over it. He is the Fire Boy, and he's MINE, so back off if you value your life...::: A Leyna tale, and how the impossible couple ended up working in a better-than-reality love story.
1. Ahoy There Romans!

**Hello internet, **

**So, this story will be a bit different from my other stories, more emotional hopefully, though I do have a flare of humor here and there (and with a story about Leo, really, it's near impossible NOT to). **

**It's rated M only because there are some adult themes, but really, they're so mild and vague that if they offend you or even make you uncomfortable, I'd strongly suggest getting off this site, because I've read 10x worse things about the most innocent topics when they were rated T. **

**Adult themes? Yes. Should that scare you away? Probably not. **

**Anyhoo, to the people who follow me, I'm NOT giving up on my other stories, I'm just take a break. My creative engine runs in cycles: in my last break from school, I managed to write 23 chapters, edit, and post them to three of my stories. Winter break is next week, I plan to do a lot of writing, but, we'll see where it goes. **

**I tend to write in fragments, meaning technically I'm almost finished writing this particular fic, but all my pieces don't connect yet, and it's just a matter of making it all cohesive before I post it. **

**Oh well, you don't care. I just want to say, my other stories are on pause, but I'll get back to them. In my next writing binge, I fully expect to get out two new stories and perhaps finish Back to Greece, maybe a get nearly done with Paul too. IDK. **

**Enjoy. **

**0000000000000**

Reyna adjusted her purple toga and made sure her golden armor was securely fastened in place as she heard the quick steps of a messenger approaching her office.

A Venus boy appeared in the open tent flaps, panting slightly.

"It's here, Ma'am." He gasped, smiling broadly, and she nodded once as she rose stiffly and accompanied him back out and down the cobbled pathway to New Rome. The walk was short, both their steps moving quickly: his in excitement, hers with purpose.

"When was it spotted?" She asked.

"About five minutes ago, Ma'am. It should touchdown in the next five or so. Everyone's there already. They've been waiting together in the grove since noon."

She nodded, again stiffly, and picked up the pace. She did not like being last. She would've been first if she had not thought it ridiculous to sit in the middle of a tree grove all day when there was a very real possibility their awaited company would not arrive until late tonight, and there were many more important things to do as Praetor than sit around waiting.

The two made their way down the streets to New Rome, in silence, the boy bouncing a bit in excitement. They soon spotted the city, which was as beautiful as always, sitting up on its hill and gleaming in the afternoon sunlight, but they didn't approach the boundary line with Terminus waiting to scold them for having a hair out of place, but instead branched off onto a newly paved pathway that lead down a distance to an open, grassy field surrounded in neat circles of freshly planted trees.

As they approached, they heard laughter and talking, and smelled the upturned earth of newly tended ground and the autumn scent of smoke from a blazing fire. Reyna took in the newly constructed field with careful eyes, going over the terrain though she already knew it by heart from its designs and her couple of visits down here before it had been completed. This was the first time she saw it in use, and fully completed.

There were thirteen beautifully elegant , massive olive trees placed perfectly in a large circle, and grown with tender care from Ceres' and Demeter's children—who had spent a winter break here to help their partial siblings create them. There was a symbol carved into each trunk indicating which Olympian god it represented.

Which _Greek_ Olympian god it represented.

The unnaturally large olive trees formed an inner ring, followed by several outer rings that were composed of smaller cherry or apple trees with the insignia of the many minor god's carved into them. The trees spiraled outward until all gods were represented.

All the_ Greek_ gods.

The center of the spacious field was completely open, a rough hundred square yards of empty space, and filled with lush, but neatly trimmed grass, and directly in the center stood a fire pit, nearly twenty feet in diameter, and burning heartily though no one had ever tended it to so far as Reyna had known.

There was a place where a fourteenth tree could go in the inner ring, but that was where the path connecting this grove to New Rome and Camp Jupiter ended in a rough stone circle, and it was there that Reyna spotted her fellows waiting for their company.

Jason, her fellow Praetor who'd taken off since lunch, spotted her approach. "Reyna!" He cried waving at her. He was most excited for this, and it was clear why. He was the biggest proponent in this—he and Percy—and he wanted it to work more than anyone.

Reyna spotted Piper holding his hand as they watched the sky, and the Indian girl smiled warmly and nodded in her direction. Reyna nodded back, but her "smile" was its usual cold self. She was over Jason—for the most part—and it no longer filled her with the desire to stab the daughter of Aphrodite in the neck every time they met, but they wouldn't be best friends any time soon. She was indifferent to the couple, at most. Jason was still her friend and her partner Praetor, but she could masterfully avoid the topic of Piper almost indefinitely with amazing skill.

Beside them stood Hazel and Frank, also holding hands but a lot more subtlety than the first couple. Both saluted their respect for her and she nodded to them too in greeting. She like them the best, over many of the demigods she'd met over her years at this camp. Perhaps because, for true Roman soldiers, they were amazingly peaceful and kind people. It was common knowledge amongst The Seven and those closest to them that the quiet couple only wished to serve their ten years in the Legion and settle down in New Rome. After the war with Gaea, they'd faded into the background quite peacefully and harmlessly, waiting until they could make their escape and find a quiet, simple life they craved in the city.

Perhaps it was the simplicity or the sweet and honest nature of their plans, or the transparency with which they wanted nothing more than their own little corner of the world together, that made Reyna approve of them. They had no ambitions or goals of power or anything more than what they had, and they simply wanted to disappear and keep it to themselves.

All in all, a very modest and good lifestyle. Very modest and good people. Reyna liked it.

Behind them, milling around the path and near the trees were a couple dozen or so other soldiers, and many more New Rome citizens sitting in amongst the trees, sitting and enjoying the early autumn afternoon. Today was a big day, after all, and a great day for a picnic.

Today was the first day of fall, and the first day in the history of…well, the first time in all recorded history that Greek demigods would be joining the Roman Legions.

It would also be the return of many of the Roman soldiers who'd decided to take this change head-on and attend the Greek camp for the summer, and would return with many of its occupants for regular year-round training and learning. Reyna and Annabeth had corresponded near-constantly with each other and with the school in New Rome over the past year to develop an in-training school for the demigods in the legions that would incorporate both the Roman and Greek as well as mortal education that all the kids needed. It worked out best that the university in the city had enough credibility in the mortal world for it to count as a real school when they finished their ten-year service and left both Camps.

Even better was that monster-attacks no longer counted as adequate reasons of expulsion, because the classes would be entirely demigods learning their Maths in-between rigorous swordsmanship and weaponry training, and the history of Ancient Greece and Rome. Even better still for many, was that English classes would have their literature translated into Ancient Greek and Latin for students, so Dyslexia was on longer an excuse for poor grades either. Hopefully the training classes between Literature and Math would help quell the ADHD and ADD issues with learning as well.

It was a big endeavor, and much planning had gone into it, but everyone—with the exceptions of a few outliers—was willing and accepting of this new system. Romans were not forced to go to the Greek camp, and vice versa if they did not wish to, but they would be expected to retain their decorum for the outsiders joining their camps on alternating seasons.

Reyna was skeptical of all this at first, but after the war ended and both sides were able to calm down enough, a few select trans-continent friendships helped convinced the vast majority of demigods this could actually work.

First of all, Percy and Jason had helped greatly at their initial arrivals with no memories, to show each side that the other side wasn't so different or dangerous. Secondly, the Piper/Jason relationship helped worm their way firmly into many hearts. And then, Percy so willingly and almost happily giving his Praetorship back to Jason despite the fact he'd very recently been lifted onto a shield and clearly had more ownership of the title that the long-absent son of Jupiter, showed many Romans at least that the Greeks were not out to get them. That, and the fact that the infuriating Leo Valdez had quickly become a well-loved if not sometimes outrageous and outlandish facet in everyday life, caused the Romans to soften the slightest bit to the Greek cause. Romans did not show their sense of humor often, but Reyna—with her highly attuned sense into the feelings of her Legions—found that many actually _enjoyed_ his light-hearted and irresponsible behavior, even if almost none of them showed it outwardly.

After the war, Leo had spent a few months with Jason rebuilding Camp Jupiter, and most Romans had taken to approaching the son of Hephaestus for weapon repairs, or help on the fine-tuned aspects of construction, and the mechanic had been only too happy to help. Romans, not one to go on personality alone, had been impressed to the point of astonishment as Leo's abilities to create weapons and fix everything that had ever been broken around camp, returning it to pristine shape in record time (which, seeing how he was the one to destroy a lot of it in the first place, had a bit more meaning than any other son of Hephaestus helping out). Rome did not value the individual over the community, but Leo's assets benefited everyone to the point that he was accepted without question, even if he was Greek.

On the other hand, so far as convincing the Greeks, Jason had proven himself a worthy ally in defending them against the Roman attack, and Percy with his near-infallibility and well known compulsion to tell the truth and be totally and completely loyal to those he trusts— and typically picking _good_ people to trust at that— had publically spoken out on the Roman's behalf, and that had pretty much convinced all of them. She also heard the their trainer, _the_ Chiron, had claimed Romans to be worth allies, if not a bit cold and hostile, and that managed to convince several of the more heart-hardened Camp Half Blood residents of their worthiness. Annabeth had written saying the Ares Cabin did not trust them in the slightest, but he and Chiron had managed to convince them that this arrangement would teach them battle skills they couldn't learn anywhere else, and they had softened to the idea greatly.

Reyna shook these thoughts away, turning back to the matter at hand.

No matter how this transition happened, it happened, and though it was a major stressor on Reyna's mind, Annabeth had written saying that despite a rocky start, the summer had gone quite well, and many of the campers—both Roman and Greek—were willing to do it again next year.

A year ago she would have killed any of these arriving demigods on sight, and now she was welcoming them into her home to train and learn, and many had hopes of it actually going _well._

Baffling, it was.

That news, as far as she was concerned, was nothing short of a miracle. She wondered if this tree grove was so beautiful because the gods blessed it, also acknowledging the miracle that even they couldn't explain that was slowly but surely happening before all their eyes.

"They're here?" Piper asked eagerly, interrupting her thoughts and bringing her fully back to the present as Reyna finally came to a halt next to them.

"They were spotted ten minutes ago, they should be landing shortly." Reyna confirmed curtly, but Piper didn't notice or care at her short mannerisms, perhaps used to it or too excited. She definitely was excited as she started bouncing on the balls of her feet and staring eagerly at the sky.

A minute passed. Then two.

"There it is!" A young boy with his parents cried from the trees. The demigods on the path came out from under the tree line a bit to look up and Reyna couldn't help but be a tiny bit impressed at the sight before her.

The Argo II had undergone major repairs since the war, the last battle really having taken a toll on it. She supposed as well that the purposes of a war ship had gone down since there was no war, but the necessity of carrying many demigods back and forth from one end of the country to another were suddenly quite high, requiring the ship to have a makeover.

The great dragon head still met them, and as the ship lowered into the sight, it shot a plume of fire out that gave off so much heat, Reyna felt her eyebrows might actually be in danger. The heavily armored, thoroughly weapon-laden exterior was the same, if not amped up another notch or two, but the entire hull seemed to be a decent size bigger and more streamlined for speedy rather than extended flight.

It swooped in a descending curve and touched down onto the grassy earth lightly and silently, much too gracefully for a massive machine of that size to possible achieve, and yet somehow did.

The elegant landing was marred by a loud voice disrupting the peaceful stillness.

"What were you saying about my driving, Clarisse?!" None other than the original Leo Valdez cried out in the serene field, leaping from wherever he'd been standing on the boat and balancing precariously on the railings facing the waiting group of demigods in the trees. He put his hands on his hips in that defiant/mischievous way of his, fiddling with a strap on his ever-present tool belt through fingerless gloves, loose green cargo pants and a sleeveless white shirt with thick black army boots coupled with a pair of ridiculous looking welding-goggles on his forehead, pushing back his curly hair. He was simply _covered_ in oil and grease, looking frazzled and crazy as ever, but was grinning proudly at the audience waiting for them.

"Ahoy there, Romans!" He cried waving, and Piper squealed and waved as well.

"Repair boy!" She laughed.

"Sup Beauty Queen?!" He called back.

"Oh, get down from there," A familiar voice laughed, and a second later they saw Percy appear and pull the mechanic down by the back of his tool belt.

"Oh, right!" Leo realized, mock-saluting the son of Poseidon and running off somewhere, and the next minute, a gang plank lowered itself to the ground, opening a portion of the ship's railing to let a steady stream of demigods walk down. Percy and Annabeth led, followed by a near five dozen other demigods, both Roman and Greek alike.

"Percy!" Jason greeted, clasping hands with his old ally, and Percy pulled him into that half-hug thing only guys can do.

"Jason!" Percy said happily as he hugged Piper and Hazel and high-fived Frank. He shook hands with Reyna, showing he remembered just how cold and formal she could be, but smiled his biggest, goofiest smile at her to convey how happy he was at the same time, his emerald eyes glowing in enthusiasm. Reyna just smiled only slightly warmer than she had for Piper, and fought the urge to roll her eyes.

"Things going well?" Annabeth asked, nodding her greeting quickly to the Praetor who nodded back just as briefly. She came and stood beside her to talk business, her gray eyes focused and intense as ever, her blonde curls cascading down from the pony tail she'd tied it back in.

"There have been no major issues. The school is set to be up and running in three days, and other than one or two cases of overly-vocal disagreement, there is nothing that should hamper that." Reyna affirmed, and Annabeth nodded back in satisfaction. They did not need to say aloud who this overly uncooperative case was, for he was the only one in both camps rooted so heavily in hate against the Greeks, and had a nasty habit of playing on other demigod's doubts and fears of this plan as well.

Luckily, at Camp Half Blood, Octavian could not influence the Romans who'd chosen to go there for the summer, and Annabeth had assured her that those demigods would come back speaking their praises of the Greeks, single-handedly undermining any logic Octavian might have had once used about not trusting the unknown or promoting the old prejudiced ways against the Greeks. The threat Octavian imposed would be swiftly snuffed out by these returning Romans in less than a day.

"Repair boy!" Piper cried, jumping forward and wrapping Leo in a hug that nearly knocked his goggles off when he finally caught up to them.

Leo laughed, "Hey! Miss me Beauty Queen?"

"Don't call me that!" She scolded, but the big smile on her face detracted from it.

"Good to see you man," Jason laughed as well, clapping him on the back almost hard enough to push him over.

"Oof! Oh, hey man! Long time no see! Like the ship? Festus got upgraded since you saw him last."

"Is it me, or is it bigger?" Hazel wondered taking in the ship with her head tilted to the side.

"By six and three quarters feet," Leo affirmed, pushing his chest out in pride. "With a bit of help from the Hecate cabin, the whole thing's bigger, plus a good dozen feet longer. I refitted the inside since it's not used for sleeping anymore, and we can make this trip in less than a day with the new engines I designed. A new and improved kitchen, bunch of sitting and play areas with pinball and stuff—oh! I hooked a pinball machine into the controls, you've got to see it-!"

"Maybe after dinner, dude!" Jason interrupted him, seeing Leo's eyes light up in excitement and knowing the mechanic could go on for hours at that rate about his machines.

"Yeah, we'll come out and you can give us the grand tour," Piper promised and Leo beamed.

"I'm impressed." Another Hispanic boy said aloud, taking in the beautiful tree grove and the gleaming city of New Rome in the distance. A buff girl with long brown hair pulled back in a loose tie grunted vaguely beside him, though her eyes kept glancing at New Rome as well.

"EPIC!" Two identical boys with sandy hair and upturned noses agreed, taking in the city and giving Leo and approving nod. "Your descriptions did it justice, we can't wait to see it!"

"No, no, no, no, no, no!" Leo scolded them. "I'm retro-fitting Terminus to pick up all your pranks as well, so don't even _try_ it!" He threatened and they deflated.

"And here we thought you were cool!" The Stolls pouted at him.

"I am!" Leo grinned triumphantly at them. "And to prove it, see me before the first war games."

"War games?" One of the brothers looked confused.

"You didn't inform them of procedure here?" Reyna frowned at Annabeth, who shrugged.

"It's more fun to watch them flounder." She smirked and the Greeks present rolled their eyes.

"Don't worry, it's a very Greek thing I guess. Sort of like throwing someone who can't swim into a rapid river and letting them figure it out for themselves. It makes better individuals that way, and it's sort of how we learn best." Percy explained quickly to assure the cold Praetor.

"We're not in the Greek world anymore; we're in the Roman one." The buff brunette grumbled, and the Hispanic boy by her side placed a hand on her shoulder in comfort—or restraint.

"No, we're not, but I think Jason and the Romans who attended Camp Half Blood over the summer can agree with me that the best way to get to know each other is to figure it out for yourself." Percy reasoned with a goofy smile at the angry girl, who just looked angrier at that.

"Ma'am," A dark haired boy stepped forward, and Reyna recognized him as a legacy of a child of Mars and one of the Romans who'd gone to New York for the summer. "Permission to speak, Ma'am."

"Of course." Reyna nodded to him.

"Formal much?" She heard one of the twin boys mutter and she shot him a warning glare that had him backing up a step. She noticed Percy shaking his head at him in warning as well from the corner of her eye.

"Ma'am, it was unorthodox, but apart from a brief welcome when we first arrived at Camp Half Blood, there was no instructions as to the way things worked there. We were forced to figure things out for ourselves and adapt to fit in there, and, if I may speak for the group in general, we found it rather helpful."

"Helpful?" Reyna frowned.

A red headed girl stepped forward too, a Roman tattoo on her arm but Reyna could not see who her parent was. Reyna nodded her permission to speak as well.

"Ma'am, I think he means helpful in that we were trained to be individuals rather than work in a group. There was a lot of independent work and play, but that made us stronger pieces to fit back into the main machine when it came time to fight together."

"They were amazing at capture the flag," Percy grinned.

"Of course they were; they were on Athena's team." Annabeth smirked. Then, more seriously, "But they had the teamwork the Greeks are sometimes lacking in. We learned a lot from them in our short and minimal time together; I think this arrangement will work wonders for all of us if we can make it through the first month or so."

All the demigods who'd been at the Greek camp over the summer grimaced.

"Why do I have the feeling this coming month will not be pleasant?" Reyna sighed dryly.

"Probably because it's gonna suck." Leo supplied helpfully and Reyna shot him a death glare.

"That was rhetorical, and I'd suggest holding your tongue in my presence." She snapped coldly.

"Will do Miss. Praetor lady!" Leo gave her a salute and a grin and she saw Jason face palm off to the side.

Reyna's eyes narrowed dangerously at him, debating on whether or not to pull her knife to his throat, but she thought she might give him _one_ chance seeing as he _was_ Jason's best friend and a vital factor in uniting the two camps. Plus, he was just as worthy as any other one of The Seven despite how irritating he was: he'd earned a little status to get away with being flippant this _once_.

"Jason," She addressed her partner curtly without taking her eyes off the mechanic who was still grinning at her.

"Right," Jason muttered, stepping up and flicking Leo in the ear to break his eye contact with the Praetor and pull him off to the side.

"And if either of you try that, you _will_ be killed." She heard Annabeth hiss at the twin brothers who looked like they agreed with her as they took a step away from the still-glaring Praetor. Reyna made a note to keep an eye on those two boys.

"Anyway…" Reyna said stiffly, catching everyone's attention and bringing the conversation back to the main point. "If that is the way things are done in the Greek Camp, I will not dissuade you from learning at such. I will, however, assign the barrack arrangements and guides for each newcomer. Learn as you see fit, but learn quickly, for I will tolerate rule breaking or deviating from procedure only as much as any other new recruit."

"Which, I'm assuming is…" The Hispanic boy by the built girl said.

"Absolutely none." Percy said brightly.

Jason chuckled. "Welcome to Camp Jupiter."


	2. The Key

Dinner was….

Interesting.

Jason honestly wasn't sure if it went well, it was too soon to tell. The Greeks were escorted formally into the dining area by him, Reyna, Percy—who was in an honorary Praetor cape over his orange t-shirt—as well as Frank, Hazel, Dakota, and three other legion centurions. Behind them, also part of those being escorted but still in full view, were Leo, Annabeth, and Piper. They figured the honor guard would be enough to convince even the most heart-hardened opponents of this merge that it was not up for debate, and that if they said anything, they'd get not only their Praetors—both past and present—but also every one of The Seven on their cases as well.

In other words, not even Octavian would put up a stink they way they presented it.

And boy, did the Apollo legacy want to comment. Jason could see the skinny blonde augur twitching all the way across the room as they entered and had to fight back a victorious smirk. The annoying blonde had been _very_ vocal about this merge of late, and it was rather reassuring to see he still knew when to cut his losses and shut his trap.

The first good sign was that nearly everyone greeted Percy back like a long lost hero, and in a way, he was. He was lifted onto a shield at the end of massive battle, he'd won the hearts of the camp far easier than Jason had, who'd been at camp for years and years before being lifted onto a shield, and even though he was no longer in power, he had every right of a Praetor, and though officially there could only be two, he would always be the 'unofficial' third.

The Greeks seemed shocked at Percy's warm welcome, at the fully armored, fierce looking soldiers breaking into grins and swarming to shake his hand and hoot and holler at his return. The last time The Seven had been at Camp Jupiter, they'd left under not-so-great circumstances, but now that the whole "Leo was possessed into attacking the camp" had been properly explained and generally accepted (plus they actually _liked_ Leo now, which helped), and the whole "Romans tried to attack the Greek Camp" thing was in the past—for the most part—the Romans were more than happy to welcome back their old leader, to whom they still felt their loyalty towards.

The only uncertain part was that the Greeks, for all their 'learn-on-your-feet' tactics, had momentarily been thrown by the seating arrangements. Reyna, true to her word as ever, had stood up and publically assigned the Greeks milling at the entrance into the cohorts, and guides came up and whisked them off to sit with their new legions.

Jason and Percy had exchanged several nervous glances as they watched siblings and couples being torn apart, looking panicked and confused at the sudden direction things were taking. Percy seemed to lurch forward a bit, almost as if his body was instinctively moving forward to help when Reyna looked Clarisse in the face and declared her to the second cohort, and then glanced to the side and assigned Chris to the fourth. Those poor guides came up and gestured for the two Greek demigods to follow them to opposite ends of the dining area, and even Jason was nearly completely convinced they were about to watch their efforts go down the drain as Clarisse attacked their Praetor.

Not only the two boy Praetors, but nearly every demigod who'd ever been at Camp Half Blood for a time, let out a sigh of relief—mingled with some shock—and Clarisse forcefully turned her glare to her guide and did not even look at Chris or Reyna.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I seriously owe her for this." Percy muttered and Jason nodded once in complete agreement as they watched the couple walk away from each other with forced, unnaturally stressed gaits.

"I'll talk to Reyna about reassigning them." Jason muttered back, but by Percy's snort he could tell Percy knew it was an empty offer. He would talk to Reyna, but he could also argue the topic with a rock for all the good it would do.

When the Greeks had been assigned out, the Praetors and The Seven took their seats at the high table and wind spirits started sprinting food out on cue. Everything from then on went pretty smoothly, but from their position, they couldn't really hear or see much. There were no fights breaking out, no shouting, no food being thrown, so they assumed things were going as good as they could expect at this point.

"No weapons have been drawn. We're already doing better than Camp Half Blood." Annabeth noted calmly as she took a bit of her pasta and Percy laughed.

"Aw, come on, that was good natured fighting." He defended lightly as his girlfriend rolled her eyes.

"I think we can assume fighting between Romans and Greeks will not be considered _good natured_ until they've been interacting peacefully for at least a couple decades." She quipped back and Percy shrugged.

"I don't want to know." Jason smiled and Piper nodded in agreement.

"I fail to see how fighting is ever good natured." Reyna frowned, and they did not respond, probably knowing they could never explain it to her.

Well, except Leo.

"Well, when you win a fight you're pretty good natured for a while, aren't ya?" The mechanic piped up smiling broadly and innocently taking a sip of his drink while Reyna shot him a glare.

"And you speak from experience, I presume?" She said rather dryly, and Jason picked up on the sarcasm buried deep in her formal tone.

Apparently Leo did too, for he cocked one eyebrow at the challenge.

"Leo." Jason said warningly, and his friend looked like he wanted to speak but fell silent, much to the taller boy's relief.

"So, Jason, Pipes, besides being boring old Romans full time, how was your summer?" He said conversationally instead and they smiled in relief at the change of topics.

Dinner passed quickly as they moved from one superficial topic to another, devoting most of their attention out at the other tables in case something were to happen, which, thankfully, nothing did.

"Jason. Percy." Reyna addressed her fellow praetors as she stood and the boys glanced up at her. Jason smirked and shared an excited glance with Piper, who looked confused, and then he stood to join her as well. Percy looked baffled, and also looked at his girlfriend, who was smirking knowingly, and he rolled his eyes. Of course Annabeth already knew when he didn't, it was just so _her._

He stood as well and joined them as they made to leave the table.

"Keep watch for… well, unrest in general." Jason told the remaining, who nodded vehemently like '_No duh!'_ and he flashed a grin before they made their way out of the dining area.

"What are we doing?" Percy asked once the rumble of the dining area had died down behind them.

"Seeing a temple about a key." Reyna said simply and Jason grinned excitedly.

"A key?" Percy asked, more to Jason who would actually be willing to elaborate.

"A key to the Vulcan forges. The children of Vulcan here focus mainly on their legion training, and when they do specialize, it's almost always in big projects like the war games forts, infrastructure, designs for the city logistics and systems, even getting into architecture in some cases, but no fine tune stuff like the automatons and little gadgets children of Hephaestus build." Jason explained quickly.

"That sounds very Roman." Percy agreed, knowing a thing or two now about the differences between the two demigod groups thanks to Annabeth's near-obsession with this merge over the past year. He knew Roman children of the forge focused on making the cities bigger and better, on creating functional things like modern day blacksmiths. The Greek children of the forge were into detail, complicated machinery, beautiful and visually pleasing weapons and inventions. Vulcan kids made horse shoes, armor, equipment, and built roads— they were civil engineers; Hephaestus children made living robots and intricately detailed and designed weapons— they were inventors. So similar to everyone else, but totally different to them.

It was for this reason all the Hephaestus children save for Leo had stayed in their regular mortal schools over the year. They preferred to be alone in their own forges and create and invent. They had no interest trying to create a new workspace a coast away when they had Camp Half Blood within an hour's driving distance and plenty of mortal classes in tech schools to spend tinkering in their workshops, not bothering with training or even that much homework.

Leo was the epitome of a true child of Hephaestus, and no one was really sure why he decided to come to Camp Jupiter. Jason had been sure he'd have stayed in cabin nine with the half dozen or so of his other siblings who also stayed at camp year-round. Leo seemed to deem family most important after all, and getting up to move cross country with little prospect of a new workspace didn't really seem like him. Jason wished to think it was because of him and Piper, but Percy and Annabeth had reported the mechanic's newfound popularity and standing in Camp Half Blood and in cabin nine: it just didn't seem like a good enough reason to uproot and move here, where he was liked, but not altogether loved.

"I get all that… what's with this key?" Percy asked again.

Jason seemed to falter a bit, but Reyna didn't even glance at him as she answer bluntly. "Romans stole a lot of their culture from the Greeks, as I'm sure you already know well about, and they did not stop there. They took over and assimilated to every culture they conquered, carrying off everything they deemed worthy. It has helped us stay strong, helped us grow and adapt over the years."

Percy frowned at the…_ Roman_-esque way she put it. Like there was nothing wrong with taking over an entire country, stealing everything it had—money, history, resources, _people_— then burning it to the ground and completely destroying it so no one could ever rebuild. Even Jason seemed to have some qualms about this, and he was every bit as Roman as Reyna was.

"That trait of '_take-and-assimilate' _didn't die out over the millennia." Jason explained carefully. "We've collected a lot of things over the years from our… enemies."

"The Greeks." Percy realized.

"Every time we won in a battle against Greek demigods, we've taken what we could." Reyna said simply.

Percy blinked. It made sense in a horrible kind of way.

"A lot we've studied, archived, melted down to reuse, so on and so on," Reyna continued in a business-like manner. "But some things we haven't been able to make heads or tails of, or things we deem too strange or incompatible with our culture to use, we've stored away."

"There's a forge, a big one, a ways outside of New Rome, and it just so happens we've set up camp near it." Jason explained proudly.

"A drill. We had the legions take down camp and rebuild it here for practice." Reyna said, frowning.

"Two birds, one stone." Jason beamed. "We got some training, and now Camp is within walking distance of Leo's birthday present."

Percy started to smile, seeing where this was going. "You're giving him the forge?" He asked, suddenly just as excited.

"We have not been able to use it and the Vulcan children have no interest. The objects collected in there have simply been sitting around for countless centuries, and for the first time we have a mechanic who may actually be able to make it useful again." Reyna nodded in affirmation.

"Plus, it's massive. It's the size of four football fields and would take all of Camp Jupiter to keep the forges lit and going at the rate needed to get anything done." Jason said.

"But… Leo's a fire user." Percy grinned. This was working out perfectly.

"He should have no problem using the furnaces." Reyna agreed.

"The key to the forge needs to be taken from the Vulcan temple, and it's only given to Praetors with the proper credentials, possibly as a safe guard to make sure only those responsible can get into it." Jason said. "The building was made to keep and protect our, uh, trophies of war I guess. Traditionally, after a battle in which we gained something to add to it, the Praetors would make a show of opening it and adding their prizes."

"But it is an outdated ceremony under the current circumstances," Reyna sniffed. "We should no longer pride these _trophies_ as great victories, but upon seeing them, mourn the brothers in arms that had to have died in order to obtain it."

Percy and Jason bowed their heads a bit in mourning at that.

"We're giving it back to the Greeks." Jason said happily and Percy beamed as well.

"Leo's gonna freak," He grinned and Jason nodded in excitement. "But… why haven't you gotten the key before now?" He wondered aloud.

"It wouldn't let us," Jason explained.

"Yes, traditionally both Praetors needed to be present so to avoid mutiny or something like it….Or, a Greek spy turned Preator, which may have seemed ridiculous until recently." Reyna said with a pointed glance, and the two boys rolled their eyes. "Apparently three Praetors need to be present now." she finished.

Percy blinked again in shock. He'd renounced his title of Praetor the minute Jason even so much as hinted he wanted back at Camp Jupiter, but this was proof that in reality, he was still very much a leader of the Roman Camp. He didn't know what to make of that.

"That's…"

"A good omen this merge is going to work out." Jason said with a wink, and Percy considered it. It was a good sign that the forces that be acknowledged a Greek demigod as a Roman leader… perhaps it would turn into something more if things kept going like this.

They arrived at a small hill, where the path sloped upwards a bit, ending in a large metal door, what looked like a old fashioned world war two bunker built into the side of the hill. Steel chains had been welded into the doors, forming the symbol of Vulcan, marking it his temple, even if the steady stream of smoke coming from over a dozen vents on the structure's roof didn't already give it away.

"Traditionally, no one but a child or legacy of a god is allowed in their temple." Reyna said. "But we must simply stand before it." She walked to the door and placed her hand on the symbol.

Jason moved to stand behind her, a little to her left, and Percy copied him to her right.

"_Senatus Populusque Romanus," _She said, and Jason and Percy echoed her.

Orange and blue light seemed to twinkle gently from beneath her fingertips. She clenched her fist and stepped back, opening her grip to reveal and old, rust colored key.

"That was easy." Percy noted, and Jason smiled and nodded his agreement while it looked like Reyna would be rolling her eyes if she could express that much emotion. "And that's Leo's birthday present?" Percy wondered aloud with glee.

Jason thought it over. "Well… his birthday's in May I think, so… yeah, we'll give it to him tonight!" He said cheerfully, and Reyna scoffed under her breath and strode away from the temple.

"I need to be there for this, his face is going to be hilarious." Percy laughed, as the boys followed after her. "We should get The Seven to watch as well. Maybe we can even call Nico, see if he'll spare us and hour." He planned.

"I haven't seen Nico since Greece." Jason sighed. "You talk to him?"

"Talk to him, yeah, but I haven't physically seen him either. He's busy, so he tells me, but I think he's just sorting things out. I hear his dad's actually training him now." Percy said.

Jason let out a low whistle. "If it were anyone else, I'd call him lucky."

Percy sighed. "I know what you mean," He agreed. "But I'll call him to come tonight. The Seven are all here, there's no reason for him not to be. And he likes Leo, they were fast friends from what I hear, he's gonna want to see this." Percy started to smile again in anticipation for the reveal.

Jason smirked. "I've been in there once before, and I bet you ten bucks Leo's gonna cry he's so happy." He broke into an excited grin.

"Twenty he's going to blow something up in the next twenty four hours." Percy added.

"I'm basically giving my money away here, but deal." Jason nodded and they laughed as they made their way back into the dining pavilion.

Everyone looked their way, slightly surprised to see Jason and Percy—the two leaders of two rival camps—laughing like they were best friends. Oh, if only they knew the best part was yet to come…

"Where'd you guys go?" Their snickering was interrupted as they got back to their table by Leo's curious expression.

Percy and Jason exchanged wicked grins and broke out into laughter again.


	3. The Vessel and Forge

**Hello Internet.**

**For those of you who read my other stories, you should know that I'm crossing (slightly) the storylines between this and Peaceful Times, mainly the Leo/Nico storyline because 1: I really love it, and 2: I don't feel like coming up with another story to explain what happened in the HoH seeing as I haven't actually READ that book yet (at least until October!), so… I'm sharing the same storyline between stories. **

**For those of you who haven't read Peaceful Times, well… you don't care. **

**Enjoy!**

**0000000000000**

"I know nothing about machines, but even _I_ can tell this is unnaturally brilliant. Or schizophrenic, I can't tell." Piper noted calmly as she gazed at the massive engines of the Argo II.

Leo was grinning from ear-to-ear looking at his own creation as well. The old engine room floor had been broken through to the stables that had turned out to be useless except for carrying the Athena Pantheons, and now both rooms were filled to the brim with the largest engines anyone now standing before it had ever seen. Even Reyna was slightly shocked.

"How does it even fly?" Jason wondered aloud, but Leo just gave him a look.

"Dude, it's a warship that hovers, just take it on faith." He laughed. "Besides, if I tried to explain it to you, you'd just tune me out until next week when I finally stop talking!"

Jason nodded, admitting that point and went back to marveling at the machines before him. It was a maze of solid blocks of various moving pieces. It looked like a death trap as Leo fired it up and all the gears and moving pieces started flying around the cramped space far too fast and with far too many flames for anyone but Leo himself to get anywhere near.

"There's a secondary engine within the main one here that runs on pure fire, that I can either create or put a small canister of Greek fire into a combustion chamber," Leo explained excitedly as he nimbly dodged the flying gears and massive robot arms and conveyor belts whipping around the room-size engine while the others watched from the "safe" distance of the doorway, pointing out little bits here and there with glee that the others just nodded along with dutifully because they didn't know that part from the rest of the complex engine. "I can manually open a hatch on the bottom to inject fire or use the main port from the steering consol that has a canal directly into the combustion chamber. It's all made of a special celestial bronze/imperial gold mix metal combination to withstand all the heat, and even then I have to reinforce it every two or three trips to keep it from going nuclear on me…"

"I feel very unsafe here." Piper said dryly, and Jason nodded absentmindedly as he watched Leo anxiously, flinching a little every time his best friend missed a rapidly spinning gear by a hair or got caught in a wall of flames even though he knew full well Leo could never be hurt by that.

"And this system allows you to travel across the country in an afternoon?" Reyna asked, with a wary frown.

"Pretty much—about the same flight time as a jet-air liner or a commercial plane ride, so like 5 to seven hours, and Annabeth made sure Zeus wouldn't shoot us down just for impeding in his domain like this, even if Percy or Nico were on board." Leo explained hopping out of the machine and dusting off his pants where tongues of fire were trying to climb up his arms.

"In the name of Roman/Greek cooperation my mother and I were able to convince him to agree." Annabeth nodded.

"Which still doesn't stop me from getting air-sick." Percy sighed.

"You were fine going to Greece," Jason raised an eyebrow at him.

"Yes, but now we're travelling at an estimated 480 kilometers faster, 986 kilometers per hour at last recorded top speed," Leo boasted proudly. "That, uh, roughly 600 miles per hour in standard units, right? That's enough to get anyone air-sick, even those who typically don't have a problem with heights."

"Impressive," Piper mumbled, eyebrows arched high in surprise.

"I _wished_ I had the time and resources to do this when we went to Greece, but it just wasn't possible then. With a year and a new goal, I was able to streamline it and amp it up a bit," Leo explained, gesturing to the engines again. "But, that also means most of the storage and weapons functions had to go to compensate for speed. The outsides pretty fierce looking to deter threats and was originally enchanted to ward off monsters anyway so I kept it, but the Argo II wouldn't be able to fight a fly anymore, which is a shame," He sighed regrettably.

"We don't need a warship, we need a vessel." Reyna declared with a firm nod.

"Which is what you got!" He grinned. "Capable of carrying up to 60 people with minimal luggage from New York to LA in five hours, but anything over that standard weight starts to affect speed and flight time. Speed is her thing now, and air maneuverability at those speeds is minimal at best, but she can do better the slower she is until we get to dime-rail logistics and functioning if the air currents don't over-balance the weight distribution and-"

"Aaaaaand you lost us." Jason smiled, clapping his friend on the shoulder as the mechanic blinked out of his technical jargon. "We may not understand it, but it is sure as hell impressive dude. And I thought the Argo II the warship was unbelievably genius, _this_ is amazing."

Leo beamed.

"Team Leo?"

Jason rolled his eyes. "Let's say yes this once, but really dude, the team Leo thing is weird."

"You _did_ just say I was amazing." He grinned.

"No, I said the _warship_, or-uh, this ship is amazing, and you are a genius, but I'm not going to make t-shirts because of it! Geeze, I forgot how weird you were."

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it again pretty quick." Leo cackled.

"You're **such** an idiot… gods I missed you!" Piper grinned, nudging his shoulder and he grinned happily back at her.

"I'm not a _complete_ idiot, I've got some parts missing," He smirked.

"And some screws loose too, I gather?" Jason chuckled, putting one arm around the much shorter boy's shoulders and pulling him away from the machinery and back through the ship.

"Of course! Life would be no fun if you weren't a bit insane, which is why I intend to annoy the Romans into insanity as well. Share the love, if ya know what a mean."

"Good luck with that." Jason rolled his eyes again.

"Do _not_ antagonize my soldiers," Reyna growled at the mechanic. "You will severely regret it if you do, I will make sure of it."

"I always loved a good challenge," Leo smiled calmly at her, not even blinking at the glare that had the strongest Roman soldiers taking a cautious step back.

"Leo…" Jason warned/complained wearily, already foreseeing a long year of trying to prevent his co-Praetor from murdering his best friend.

"I know you said you were insane, but I didn't take you for suicidal as well." Percy pointed out to Leo, throwing a keen look at the very unhappy girl Praetor currently glaring daggers at him as the group made it up to the top deck.

"Eh, you say suicidal, I say open minded." He shrugged.

"Be too open-minded and you're brains will fall out," Percy snorted and Leo grinned at that.

"Don't take life so seriously! You're not going to get out alive anyway!" He cackled, dancing around the shove Jason and Percy both tried to send his way and neatly jumping over the railing, falling the decent drop to the ground.

"Hey! Don't go anywhere just yet! We have something to show _you_ now!" Jason called, jogging down the gang plank to meet up with Leo before he could run off, the others following at a walk.

"Really?" Leo perked up curiously, cautiously eyeing the Praetors' (sans Reyna) and Annabeth's wicked grins.

"Two things actually," Percy qualified. "One of which should be here…" He glanced at Annabeth, who looked at her wristwatch and then nodded with a grin. "Any minute!" He finished eagerly, leading the charge as they jogged away from the Argo II and back to the line of trees and the stone path leading back to camp.

"You're gonna want to see this as well," Jason smiled kindly to Hazel, who looked surprised but then also followed Percy's line of sight and started to scan the tree line too, where the evening's setting sun was starting to cast sharp shadows across the ground and through the rows of trees.

They waited, pacing along the trees for a couple minutes in apprehensive silence.

It was the feeling you got when someone opened the freezer while you were standing too close: it sent a shiver up your spine, but it was over in an instant.

And suddenly he was there, grown since last they saw him, but aged and very tired looking, as if he were a hundred years old and stuck in a fifteen year old body.

"NICO!" Hazel yelped, lurching forward and sprinting across the few dozen feet gap from their group to the shadow her brother had just stepped through; which happened to be the tree with the Hades symbol etched into its trunk.

Nico jumped in surprise and whipped around in alarm to her voice, but relaxed a moment later when he saw who it was. He let himself be bowled over as his sister tackled him to the ground in a hug.

They only lasted that way for a moment before they were pulled back up and those who hadn't known he was coming started freaking out he was there too.

"Dude!" Percy grinned, trapping his little cousin in a hug the moment his sister let go.

"_Dude_, yourself, I talked to you an hour ago." Nico rolled his eyes, his voice slightly deeper from the year he'd spent away.

"You got so tall!" Annabeth fussed, pushing Percy away and hugging him too. "You're Percy's height!" She exclaimed in surprise upon realizing she had to crane her neck back some to look into his coffee black eyes.

Nico blushed, which only turned his deathly pale cheeks slightly blue, and ran a hand through his ever-shaggy hair awkwardly. "Uh, yeah… growth spurt, I guess…"

"You should've seen Percy when he had his: for a full month, every time we tried to spar he'd fall flat on his face—it was only a miracle he never impaled himself." Annabeth grinned comfortingly, while Percy made a noise of protest/embarrassment as everyone else smirked and/or snickered at that mental image.

"I wouldn't laugh. You were not so graceful either, _Grace."_ Reyna said dryly, effectively shutting Jason right up.

"You swore to never mention that again!" He hissed at her but, of course, she didn't react.

"Did you just make a joke? I think she just made a joke! Someone PLEASE tell me you were recording that!" Leo howled, not flinching at the glare the daughter of the war goddess sent him.

Nico let out a low chuckle, seemingly visibly comforted by Annabeth and Reyna's teasing. His dark eyes scanned the little group, smiling wearily at all of their own grins back at him, before coming to a rest on Leo, the mechanics smile not its usually blinding grin, but an honestly happy smile.

"Dude," Leo welcomed, putting out and arm which Nico grabbed by the forearm in greeting as well. "You look like death," He smirked. "When's the last time you slept?"

"I could ask you the same thing Mr. Workaholic," Nico shot right back, his own smile widening.

Leo let out a barking laugh and pulled Nico in a for a hug too. He released him, clapping him on the back and his smile back at its normal grin. "If I ever fell asleep easily, I'd say there was too much blood in my caffeine system." Leo said matter-of-factly. "Which, I don't think will be a problem here seeing as the wind spirits serve coffee and Dakota knows where to get Red Bull." He added as an afterthought.

"You'll do just fine then," Nico snickered right along.

"What about not sleeping?", "You haven't slept?"

Percy and Jason talked over each other as they scolded their cousin/best friend respectively.

Said boys in question rolled their eyes.

"One does not simply _build_ the world's biggest and fastest engines in a year while also factoring such trivial things as _sleep_, Jason." Leo rolled his eyes in a '_no duh!'_ tone.

"And I never knew when it's night or day in the Underworld, so I ignore it." Nico shrugged, slipping away as Annabeth, Percy, and Jason all opened their mouths with the obvious intention on giving the two younger boys some sort of lecture about needing their sleep.

They were saved as Reyna got bored with the little reunion.

"Tomorrow is a rather important day for us all, perhaps we should get this over with swiftly?" She said, not making her question sound like it was made for an answer as she began to stride away, back up the path to camp.

"Yes ma'am." Leo mock saluted, taking after her with Nico falling into step beside him and the others floundered a little, but collected themselves enough to follow a little behind.

"Do you know what we're doing?" Leo asked Nico suspiciously. After all, despite keeping in general contact, Nico didn't leave the Underworld very often these days. His powers were starting to progress, and they were unstable enough that he felt the need to stay somewhere that people were already dead.

Not that the others knew that specifically.

There were a lot of things only the two boys knew, and they intended to keep it that way.

"Of course." Nico said with a slight smirk, and Leo shot him a mock-glare.

"I get the feeling mostly everyone knows but me." He commented lightly.

"That is accurate." Nico nodded once, his smirk growing more pronounced as Leo pouted.

"Is it smaller than a loaf of bread?" Leo asked excitedly, switching tactics.

"Twenty questions? Really?" Nico rolled his eyes, but gave in. "Fine, no—it is definitely not smaller than a loaf of bread." He relented.

"Is it alive?"

"Nope."

"Is it a place?"

"Yep."

"Is it…"

"Oi! No giving clues! We're going to be there in like, five minutes!" Jason interrupted them, coming to stand between them and giving Nico a look.

Nico didn't even look at him, only looking ahead at the path as usual. "He's never going to get it." He pointed out.

"Hey! I can be _extremely_ deductive when I want to be!" Leo defended himself.

"Yes, or you can wait five minutes and enjoy the surprise." Jason brushed him off.

"I hate suspense." Leo grumbled.

"You'll get over it." Jason assured him with a small chuckle.

Leo frowned mockingly at him. "How do you know!? I could _die_ from suspense, and then how'd you feel! I could-"

But his mocking was brought short when he plowed right into Reyna, who'd stopped in the middle of the path. She didn't even so much as sway from the collision, while Leo ended up on the ground in a surprised heap.

Nico stopped and looked down at him with one skeptical eyebrow raised. "What were you saying about being deductive?" He smirked.

Leo huffed. "I said deductive, not observant." He muttered, accepting Jason's helping hand up.

Reyna didn't bother to even acknowledge the collision or the exchange.

"Jason." She said shortly.

Jason grinned and pulled an old rusty key from his pocket. "Happy Birthday Leo—you get an old key!" He smiled, putting the key in his friend's hands after he'd finished brushing himself off. Jason was only mildly surprised when the key actually fit into the mechanic's hand—whereas it was lost in his own hand, Leo's was much smaller and nimbler and the key's handle could perfectly fit in his clenched fist. He shouldn't be surprised, but he still was: Leo, after all, was by far the shortest person here, though it often didn't seem like it with his large presence vocally. Compared to the other guys there, and even Annabeth and Piper, he was absolutely miniscule. The closest in height was Hazel—who was still two or three inches taller—and Reyna who… was actually a bit shorter, but she was so scary she felt ten feet tall.

As the others grouped around them to watch Leo's face, Jason couldn't help but notice that Leo was looking up at all their faces, eyes glinting excitedly like a little kid's, and it was rather amusing.

"Gee thanks! A key to nothing! Just what I _always_ wanted!" He rolled his eyes sarcastically. "Lemme guess: this key actually _goes_ to something?" He raised his eyebrows at Jason who laughed.

"Yes it does." He shrugged.

They paused for something until Leo's minimal patience was used up.

"_And?!" _He huffed.

Jason beamed and took him by the shoulders to turn him around.

The forge from the outside looked like an old factory: brick walls looking aged and weathered, with high glass windows near the top in a grid pane pattern. There were a wide range of different sized smoke-stacks, going from the size of pencils to the size of freeway tunnels, but all of them were still and empty.

The giant, solid iron doors were completely massive: it looked like five elephants could walk side-by-side through it without a problem, and two giraffes standing on top of each other could walk under the frame and not even need to duck a little. The doors were unmarked though—the kids of Vulcan never having claimed it as theirs, and no one in the Roman camp having ever though it worth their time to mark something as belonging to the Greeks. It was basically just a junk closet to them… though you wouldn't know it by looking on the outside.

"It's an… old empty building?" Leo tilted his head to the side in curiosity, walking closer to the doors.

"Trust me, it isn't empty." Jason said in excitement, following Leo at a distance behind to let the mechanic take the lead in exploring his present.

"And it's filled with…" Leo fished, getting to the door and pressing his ear to the metal curiously.

"You've got the key—open it and find out for yourself." Jason gestured for him to have at it.

Leo blinked warily at him, but then turned to the lock. For such a massive door, the lock was nearly nothing: not even the size of Jason's palm, and the key-hole being a very average, very standard size. How it differed though, was revealed when Leo put the key in and turned it.

The lock and key simply disappeared, the seam in the doors starting to glow a vibrant blue color, and the same blue glow etching out circuit patterns spreading across the iron.

"Woah." Leo's eyes widened, his mind taking in more meaning in the circuits than the other's watching in fascination.

Suddenly, the seam burst open, blasting them with a harsh current of dry, stale air that smelled like oil and old metal. The doors slid back eerily silently, disappearing into nothing in the walls themselves, and leaving a giant gaping opening into a vast, dark room. The only light that could be seen was from the small windows near the top, and the fading light of dusk didn't cast enough light to be able to see into it, other than giant mountains of shadow.

"Woah." Leo repeated, chorused this time by Nico.

"What can you see?" Leo asked Nico immediately, knowing the boy could see through the shadows much better than normal people.

Nico just stared with wide eyes at the room for a moment in shock, before shaking himself out of it. "Uh…to the left, right there… it's a torch system. Light it up." He walked a few feet in and pointed to a shadow off to the left of the door.

Leo followed close behind him and made sure he was looking at what Nico was pointing at before touching it. He could feel cold metal beneath his fingertips, and suddenly he knew exactly what he was dealing with.

He could feel the system the device was connected to, and he could feel how _far_ it stretched away.

"_Holy Hephaestus_..." He gasped.

"What?" Jason said, stepping into the darkness a bit too, in alarm, worried by Leo's tone and the fact he couldn't see him.

Leo blinked rapidly, trying to process it all.

"THISis what…" He said weakly, suddenly letting a blast of as much concentrated energy as he could go into the tiny chamber beneath is palm. He could tell the chamber was meant to be connected to something bigger, but that valve had broken, but it didn't truly matter at the moment because he could run it by himself, without it being connected to a lit forge.

And suddenly, all along the walls, torches burst to life, fire shooting their the tubing connecting them and lighting the little bundles of rope hung into canisters of oil, creating lamps every dozen or so feet… so there were about five hundred or more lamps in total.

The place was _massive. _

The giant shadows revealed themselves to be humungous piles of… well, _everything. _Just from the door way they saw a pile of shields, a pile of what looked like clocks, one of metal wiring, one of tires, two of cracked circuit boards and another of various types of metals ripped into shreds—and each was easily four times the size of Hannibal. And the piles just stretch on and on and on and on and on, in the vast depths of the warehouse—which was now obviously much bigger on the inside than the outside gave it away as.

But there was even more—more that only Leo could feel. With his hand on what he'd figured was the opening consol, he could sense everything else it was connected to.

"What's wrong?" Nico asked by his side, catching the look on his face as the others came in, also slightly shocked and overwhelmed. Only Jason and Reyna, who'd seen this place before, were actually paying attention to the obviously overwhelmed Leo.

"This place had _levels."_ Leo gasped, running his hand down the consol and curiously playing with the circuit board beeping little start-up tunes at him, listening to it list off all the things this place had that it was running check-ups on.

"Wait-_what?" _ Jason and Reyna chorused.

"We weren't aware of that." Reyna frowned deeply.

Leo just nodded absent-mindedly. "Yeah… there's… wait, I think there's five levels. Two more of… _this…"_ He gestured broadly to the vast piles with a freaked out look, "One more of something else that's been blocked off from this computer's memory," He mused curiously, fiddling with the switched and dials again to hear some more diagnostics, "And the level right below us is… well, I'd say it's a forge system, but I mean… I mean this place is—is _huge!_ A forge system that BIG, it'd need like, three hundred people working full time to run, or like a dozen dragons locked up down there and severely pissed off, or maybe even-"

"A fire user?" Jason supplied with a smirk.

Leo froze and gave him a shocked look, eyes blow wide.

"Oh my gods, it _is_ a forge." He mumbled.

"_Your_ forge." Jason pointed out with a warm smile.

Leo looked like he was short-circuiting.

"Y-you can't be… I mean you're not _serious!?_ Y-you're just… j-just _giving _this place to me?" He squeaked, and Jason didn't think his eyes could physically get any bigger.

Jason grinned happily the same moment Nico silently stepped a bit closer to Leo.

"Welcome home, buddy!" Jason cheered.

Nico caught him just Leo lost consciousness.


End file.
